Action Society says the crisis at the SAPS Ballistics Division, revealed during testimony before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry this week, confirms the urgent need to decentralise South Africa’s forensic services and partner with private laboratories to restore functionality and trust in the justice system.
According to Juanita du Preez, spokesperson for Action Society, the backlog of more than 41 000 unresolved ballistic cases is further proof that the state-run forensic system is no longer capable of delivering justice.
“The backlog in the SAPS Ballistics Division is a national emergency, but it is also a symptom of something far deeper,” Du Preez said. “The centralised forensic model is collapsing. Unless South Africa allows qualified private forensic laboratories to assist under strict oversight, the wheels of justice will remain stuck.”
Testifying before the commission on 27 October, Brigadier Mishak Mkhabela, head of the Ballistics Section at the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory in Silverton, Pretoria, confirmed that the unit is crippled by staff shortages and growing delays that jeopardise firearm investigations nationwide. Of the 41 846 outstanding cases, 21 732 are from 2025 alone, leading to cases being struck from court rolls and evidence growing cold.
Action Society warned that the ballistics backlog forms part of a much wider forensic breakdown, with DNA and toxicology backlogs even worse. “Hundreds of thousands of DNA samples remain unprocessed, which means rape and murder investigations across the country are paralysed,” Du Preez said. “Both the DNA and ballistics crises stem from the same problem: a centralised and mismanaged system that has lost capacity, credibility, and public trust.”
The organisation says that public-private partnerships and decentralisation are the only viable way to clear the backlogs, restore accountability, and rebuild capacity within the forensic environment.
“Private forensic capacity in South Africa already meets international standards. There is no reason why these laboratories cannot be contracted to assist with DNA, toxicology, and ballistics testing,” Du Preez added. “It is time to take forensic work out of bureaucratic paralysis and put it in the hands of professionals who can deliver results.”
Behind every one of these cases is a family living in uncertainty. Parents who cannot bury their children with closure, survivors who are forced to relive trauma each time a case is postponed, and families who attend hearing after hearing only to hear that evidence is still outstanding. The human cost of delay is devastating and far-reaching.
In the Charlene Pretorius case, the murder trial before the Pretoria High Court has been repeatedly postponed because of outstanding toxicology and forensic reports. More than two years after her death in May 2023, the toxicology results remain incomplete, delaying closure for her family.
In the case of Nonkululeko Gabriella (Gaby) Luenza Ndaba, who went missing in Boksburg on 26 May 2023 and was found dead six days later. An inquest was opened into her death. The investigative team confirmed that toxicology results for inquests can take up to ten years, meaning families may wait a decade before a death is even officially recognised as a murder.
“These backlogs do not only stall justice; they destroy trust and deepen the pain of those already broken by violent crime,” Du Preez said. “Every delayed forensic report represents a victim still waiting and a perpetrator still free. Decentralisation is not a luxury; it is a moral necessity if we want victims to see justice in their lifetime.”
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